


Give Me A Spark, I'll Give You Explosions

by cafephan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 7k, AU, First Kiss, Fluff, Party, School, nail polish (yay), teenage!phan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 14:07:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6757258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cafephan/pseuds/cafephan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil is quiet and shy, silently pining. Dan is loud and flirty, and doesn’t care about labels. House parties and nail polish occur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me A Spark, I'll Give You Explosions

**Author's Note:**

> This is a product of me needing to fill my desire to write teenage!phan with nail polish so enjoy

Check out the playlist to this fic [here](https://open.spotify.com/user/parodyvamps/playlist/4SinH6zoUHGf9Fud4n0Z3Y) :)

 

\--

 

“Which one? And tell me honestly!” Louise pushed her phone into Phil’s hands as they sat at a corner table in the cafeteria, swiping from one selfie to another, both of the blonde in different outfits.

“I don’t know why you’re asking me, surely you’d be better off asking Zoe or Hazel…” Phil replied, biting his bottom lip as he tried to distinguish in his mind which outfit he preferred, just in case Louise wasn’t satisfied with his previous answer.

“I’ve _tried._ They both say that each outfit looks beautiful and I know they’re lying so I want the opinion of someone who doesn’t know much about fashion” Louise insisted, running a hand through her curled hair.

“First of all, thanks for that,” Phil smirked and Louise apologised profusely at her wording, which Phil dismissed as he was joking, “but I’d go for the second one” he added wistfully, smiling at having chosen, and as Louise took her phone back she pressed her glossed lips together.

“Why that one?” she asked, and Phil felt his eyes widen. He wasn’t expecting an interrogation.

“Because it really… brings out your eyes” he picked a reason out of the air, deciding that the truth _it was just the one I liked better_ wouldn’t suffice.

“Would it go with the shoes from the other outfit better though?” she asked, more to herself, and Phil excused himself to visit the vending machines.

Phil didn’t get the hype around this party. He didn’t know why he allowed Louise, Zoe and Joe to rope him into going with them, parties weren’t his scene. It wasn’t that Phil was the stereotypical nerd and would rather stay home and read or whatever it was the cheesy highschool movies depicted, he just didn’t see the appeal of going out with the sole intention of getting drunk and grinding on random schoolmates only to avoid eye contact with them for the rest of the year afterwards.

Louise was putting immense effort into her appearance for the party, as was Zoe, and even Joe had asked Phil’s opinion on which shoes to wear. He didn’t understand the hype. There was always someone at the school who hosted a house party pretty much every weekend, and none of his friends were usually fussed. But this one, they had their hearts set on it.

As soon as Andrea had told her history class about it the week before, word of the party spread like wildfire. Phil presumed this party had so much excitement surrounding it because it was just after the final exam of the year, and people wanted to celebrate another academic year ending. Though Phil’s idea of celebration was not a stuffy, alcohol-fuelled riot in the house of a classmate he had only spoken to twice.

Promptly snapping himself out of his thoughts, he selected a random sandwich and headed back to the table, smiling at seeing Zoe and Joe now sat with Louise. Phil hoped that the fashion dilemmas would now be pitched to the Sugg siblings instead.

As soon as Phil sat down, Louise filled him in on the makeup choices she had decided on to correspond with the outfit, and he nodded along politely with a smile as if he had a clue what she was talking about.

Suddenly, his three friends stopped mid-sentence, and began to snigger.

“What?” Phil asked. Though he had a strong idea what they were sniggering at, as it wouldn’t be the first time.

“Like clockwork” Zoe nodded behind Phil, and he followed her gaze to the cafeteria doors. He tried his hardest to ignore the obvious colour rising to his cheeks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Phil insisted, turning back and taking a bite of his sandwich to distract his mouth from saying anything embarrassing.

“How’s the old ticker doing, mate?” Joe teased, patting Phil’s chest. “Yep, nearly beating out of your chest as usual”

Phil playfully swatted Joe’s hand away and rolled his eyes, and Louise smirked.

“It is like clockwork,” she nodded to Zoe in agreement, “literally wherever you go, he’s _always_ there in under ten minutes. It’s impressive”  

“Dan Howell is not stalking me” Phil stated, trying to sound as casual as possible.

“Nobody mentioned stalking,” Zoe pointed out, “It’s just very convenient timings, is all”

As if he heard them from the other side of the cafeteria, at the mention of Dan’s name he flicked his head up and looked over to the group, sending a friendly wave, which they all returned. Phil kept his wave short out of fear of embarrassing himself further and giving his friends more ammunition to tease him with, and focused back on his sandwich.

When he risked a glance back over a second later, Dan was back in conversation with Tyler and Caspar, laughing hysterically. Phil liked Dan’s laugh, it was the infectious kind of laughter that made everyone around him smile along.

“Please go talk to him” Louise pleaded, locking her hands together.

Phil shook his head.

“There’s no need, we don’t have anything to talk about” Phil replied casually, and Louise rolled her eyes.

“Except the fact you’ve had the hots for him since year eight and we’re in sixth form now” Joe commented smugly, not looking up from his phone.

“That’s irrelevant” Phil’s response was almost automatic. They had this conversation at least twice a week.

“And he’s obviously been crushing on you for just as long” Zoe added, raising an eyebrow when Phil shushed her and even more colour stained his cheeks.

“Wow Phil, you’re burning up. It’s a good thing you’re… _not on fire_ ” Joe burst into laughter at his own joke, and the girls followed suit. Phil placed his head in his hands.

“Please don’t bring out the ‘amazing’ and ‘not on fire’ puns” he pleaded, and Joe held his hands up in surrender.

“But think about it, together you could be ‘the amazing couple who is not on fire’. It has a ring to it, I think” Louise pondered, and Zoe nodded in agreement.

“Oops, think fast Phil” Zoe whispered under her breath, and Phil barely had any time to question her before a chair was pulled up to the end of their table.

“Sup,” Dan grinned, and Joe chuckled.

“Maybe don’t say that again” he suggested, and Dan flicked him off.

“I’m the only one who can pull off ‘sup’” Caspar claimed as he took a seat beside Dan, Tyler sitting on his other side.

“Only because of the accent” Joe shot back, and the two got into a play-argument almost instantaneously.

“How are you, Phil?” Dan asked quietly, due to them being sat next to each other.

“I’m good thanks, but, um,” Phil glanced down at his wrist, “I really need to get to class, have to get a good seat and stuff” he smiled politely as he excused himself, stood up from the table and scurried out of the cafeteria, nearly tripping over Tyler’s chair in the process, leaving a bewildered Dan in his wake. Zoe grabbed her bag and set off after him, sharing the same class after lunch period.

Phil, once around the corner from the cafeteria, sank to the wall, placing a hand to his chest. He wasn’t a generally anxious person, but whenever Dan spoke to him, his body seemed to rebel against him, and his heart-rate would be faster for at least an hour. He always worried about what to say, and then saying the wrong thing, and in the end he usually decided it was best to run away, which is what he did most of the time. It wasn’t necessarily fair to Dan, he knew, but it wasn’t Phil’s fault that he was suffering with a five-year long crush that didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon.

“Um, care to explain what that was?” Zoe asked as she helped Phil up from the wall after he coached himself through a breathing technique, and Phil shook his head.

“Couldn’t do it” he shrugged, and Zoe pressed her lips together and pushed her bag strap further up her shoulder.

“You seemed like you were getting along, though” she pressed, and Phil dropped his gaze to the floor. He wanted to get to know Dan better, of course, but he could never seem to keep a conversation going.

“We literally said two sentences to each other” Phil reminded her, and Zoe tilted her head to the side, seemingly in confusion.

“Really? But he was smiling at you the whole time, like you’d said something amusing and he was happy to be there” she informed him, and Phil shook his head.

“Why don’t you just write us a fanfiction” he joked with a grin, and Zoe laughed.

“I think Louise would beat me to it,” Zoe replied with a chuckle, and pressed the button for the lifts. “But Phil?”

“Yeah?”

“You realise you’re not wearing a watch, right?”

\--

“I honestly don’t get why people are getting so worked up for this party” Phil sighed as he flopped onto Joe’s bedspread, as Joe styled his hair at the mirror. Across the corridor, Zoe and Louise were frantically applying makeup and swapping various items of clothing and not being particularly quiet. Phil had heard them both scream about stealing each other’s mascara and hairspray four times now.

“I think it’s because it’s the final one before summer break” Joe replied casually, working more gel into his hair and ruffling it.

“Isn’t Ricky hosting one next week though?” Phil asked, recalling Ricky mentioning it in yesterday’s English class.

“Not anymore, his parents cancelled their trip. So this one’s the last” Joe answered, now moving onto straightening out his leather jacket.

Phil straightened out his polka-dotted buttondown shirt, either out of fear of feeling inferior or for just something to do during the awkward silence, and Joe turned to face him.

“Right, I think I’m done. Do I look okay? Tell me honestly” he swivelled from side to side.

“Since when did you turn into your sister and Louise” Phil replied with a smirk, and Joe flicked him off playfully. “But no, you look good. Hoping to impress anyone, or?”

Phil’s smirk only grew as he watched a blush stain Joe’s cheeks, and his friend squirmed under his gaze.

“Maybe” Joe’s voice was smaller, and to not make the moment any more awkward for himself he walked out of the room and knocked on Zoe’s door, which the girls answered with red and pink lipped smiles.

Phil couldn’t hear what they were saying, but through the reflection of Joe’s mirror which was near the door, he could see the three of them nod about something.

“Okay, ready? They’ll only be two minutes” Joe gestured for Phil to stand up and go downstairs with him.

Zoe and Louise entered the living room a few minutes later, and Louise smiled fondly at her friend.

“It’s always nice to see you dressed up and not in those plain shirts” she commented, and Phil feigned offence.

Before he had chance to fully respond, Joe chimed in.

“He’s dressing up for Dan. Aren’t you, Phil?”

“I-“

Zoe now chimed in, this time in Phil’s defence.

“Joe! Stop it, you’re embarrassing him. It’s okay though Phil, we won’t tell anyone” she winked and Phil shook his head with a chuckle as the four of them headed out for the party.

Not before Louise had one parting pearl of wisdom.

“If it does end up happening with you and Dan, though, please give us a text and let us know that you’re going home with him. We don’t want to be searching the neighbourhood at three in the morning”

“Louise!” Phil exclaimed, cupping a hand over his mouth in disbelief at her words and also to disguise how quickly his cheeks were gaining colour again.

As Phil walked behind his friends on the way to the party, he kept his gaze on his shoes. He blinked away any thoughts he had of Dan, which, to be honest, were most of his thoughts most of the time, in some way. Eventually he sighed in defeat, telling himself that he had a long night ahead of him, especially if Dan still had an interest.

\--

Andrea’s house was in what was commonly referred to as the ‘posh estate’, guarded by stately gates and keypad locks. A place Phil had never stepped foot in before, but now was loitered with drunk, nauseous teenagers throwing up over the side of the pavement and making out behind bushes.

“So this is new” Zoe observed as the four set up Andrea’s front path, weaving their way between passed out classmates and beer cans.

“An amazing kind of new” Joe retorted, and Phil sighed.

“Is that a dig at me again?” he asked, and Joe threw his head back in laughter.

“Not every use of the word amazing is a reference to you. Maybe you should reconsider your branding” Joe patted Phil on the back before taking the lead in the group, striding through the front door and immediately accepting an unidentified drink from someone in the doorway.

“My branding? You mean the Twitter account I made when I was thirteen?” Phil called after him, but Joe was long gone. Although Phil wasn’t the only one wanting Joe’s attention.

“Don’t get too drunk again, dad will kill you!” Zoe called after her brother, but alas, Joe was now in amongst the dancers in the living room, fist pumping to a cult classic Phil had no idea about. Zoe shook her head in disapproval and followed Louise into the kitchen, whilst Phil followed behind her.

“Okay, plan of action?” Zoe asked, as if they were planning a heist of some kind.

“Phil’s going to find Dan, you’re going to find Alfie, and I’m going to find Jack and Hazel to do some serious third wheeling” Louise counted the couples off on her fingers, and Phil couldn’t help a smile creep on his lips.

“Look at that smile, someone’s down for it” Zoe teased, poking Phil’s cheek.

“Shut up” Phil gushed at his friends’ teasing, and it was only when Louise pushed Phil and Zoe out of the kitchen that he felt the intensity of the situation he was in.

Zoe left pretty much straight away when Mark told her that Alfie was in the other room and led her to him, leaving Phil alone in the corridor, unsure of what to do next. When he tried to return to the kitchen to find solace in Louise, she was long gone, and he couldn’t find either of the Suggs anywhere.

After pouring himself a cup of the lowest percentage alcohol in the kitchen, he made his way into the living room, sticking to the walls and moving slowly to avoid getting dragged onto the makeshift dancefloor. Andrea’s house was huge, the living room alone could constitute as a nightclub. The DJ was still playing some kind of club anthem, and as Phil made his way out of the living room and into whatever the next room was, his cup was knocked out of his hand, the few remaining drips of alcohol teetering on the rim, hovering over the plush carpet. Before Phil could try and rectify the situation, a group of people exited the living room, consequently pushing Phil out with them.

He quickly realised he was now heading for the dining room which was at the end of another corridor, a long wooden table visible from the end of the corridor.

The room was far less populated than the living room, which Phil was thankful for, and a whole lot quieter. Which he was even more thankful for.

He found himself leaning against the doorway of the dining room, catching his breath back that he didn’t realise he had lost. Up until he was tapped on the shoulder, which made the cycle repeat.

“Are you alright, Phil? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” Tyler’s voice was caring, though some words were slightly slurred.

“I’m the palest thing ever, so that’s no worry” Phil replied, hoping that his attempt at comedy would make him seem less uncomfortable. Tyler, being evidently somewhat tipsy, found it hilarious and roared with laughter, resting his hand on Phil’s shoulder.

“Listen, I don’t like the fact you’re standing all alone, come sit with us” he offered, and before Phil could accept or decline, Tyler grabbed his wrist and pulled him through more rooms, waving to other tipsy classmates as he did so, before they ended up in what Phil guessed was the conservatory, lit up with rows upon rows of bright fairy lights.

At the table at the far end of the conservatory, Tanya was surrounded by pots of nail polish of all colours and shades, and was painting Dan’s nails in an electric blue. Beside her, Niomi was painting Caspar’s nails a jungle green. It was then that Phil realised that Tyler’s nails were painted a fluorescent orange.

As if sensing Phil’s arrival, Dan lifted his head and smiled warmly, waving his free hand. Phil returned the wave, but squirmed under Dan’s gaze which didn’t seem to be moving from him.

“There he is, I told you he’d be here” Dan stated to Caspar, and the south african waved off Dan’s comment as he looked down in awe at his nails.

“What are you all up to?” Phil asked as he made his way over, putting all of his effort into not slapping himself for asking such an obvious question.

But thankfully nobody laughed, instead Dan held up his free hand, the reflection from the fairy lights bouncing off of the electric blue nail polish.

“Getting glammed up, what else” Dan shrugged with a grin, and Tanya chuckled as she finished off painting Dan’s little finger on his other hand.

“Dan cursed us all. He spotted Andrea’s collection in the corner, asked Tanya to paint his nails then it was a slippery slope for the rest of us” Jim informed Phil jokily from his position behind Tanya, holding up his left hand displaying white nail polish.

“You’re next!” Dan beamed at Phil, and Phil couldn’t bring himself to say no. Besides, he had always wondered what it would be like to wear nail polish, he’d always just been too scared of the judgement.

“There you go! All done!” Tanya said, letting go of Dan’s hand and placing it flat on the table. Dan marvelled down at his nails, a childlike innocence in the glint in his eye.

“I love them, thanks Tan!” Dan complimented chirpily, wrapping Tanya in a one-arm hug.

At the same time, Niomi finished with Caspar’s nails, and Caspar was snapchatting them.

“It’s our song, we have to go!” Niomi exclaimed a few seconds later upon hearing the song change in the living room, and she, Tanya and Jim excused themselves before running out of the room in the direction of the living room after a hasty goodbye.

“I need another drink” Tyler mumbled, the first words he’d said since his and Phil’s arrival, and turned on his heels and walked back out of the room, stumbling into the wall occasionally.

“I need to find better signal. I need to send this to Josh” Caspar huffed in annoyance, before standing up and wandering out of the room, dawdling slowly as he held his phone in the air trying to capture better signal.

It was almost like a cheesy movie, leaving Phil and his crush alone in a room with romantic lighting.

True to cheesy movies, Phil’s heart started to pound all but out of his chest when Dan leaned in closer, to grab a bottle of nail polish from the opposite side of the table.

“I’ve found your colour” Dan told him, wiggling the bottle in front of Phil’s face. But before he had a chance to look properly, Dan had placed it on his lap to unscrew the top, and Phil _really_ didn’t want to look down there. He would probably pass out.

“What colour is it?” Phil asked, gulping after he spoke. He was getting hotter under the collar with every passing second, and Dan’s soft hums from in front of him didn’t help at all. He kept his gaze anywhere but on Dan, willing for the attraction to just end. Or at least ease up slightly, since Phil didn’t exactly hate how close Dan was to him.

“You’ll see. I think you’ll like it,” Dan sang in response, taking Phil’s hand and shuffling closer to make the task of painting his nails easier. “For more reasons than one” he added with a wink before taking the brush in his hand and lifting it up to Phil’s fingers.

“I love how you just assume I want mine painting” Phil stated breathlessly as Dan started on the first nail.

“I love how you’re trying to pretend you don’t love the situation” Dan replied with a grin, now moving onto the second nail.

Phil gulped again as Dan’s hair brushed against his hand as the brunet turned to the table to get more polish. He could feel his hands start to become clammy, and he simultaneously prayed to any religious icon that might exist to spare him of any embarrassment.

Phil noticed that Dan’s words weren’t slurred in the slightest, nowhere near the state both Tyler and Caspar were in. If they carried on the way they were going, they would be paralytic in under two hours.

“Are you not drinking?” Phil asked, swallowing thickly when Dan turned back around and looked up at him through his eyelashes.

He shrugged. “I guess. I’ve had a fair few, but I’m not too fussed about getting smashed. If it happens then it happens, but I’m not aiming to be labelled a partier or a drinker, it doesn’t bother me”

That was the thing about Dan, he didn’t care about labels. He was the one that once kissed Korey in the middle of the assembly hall in Year 9, when nobody else in the year group had yet outed themselves, out of fear of how everyone would react. He was the one that kissed Dodie the following week, and didn’t give a damn when the whole school began speculating about his sexuality. He was the one that wore pastel pink jumpers with light-washed jeans and sparkly nail polish one day, and a whole black ensemble complete with leather jacket the next.  He was the one that held hands with everyone he met, a sign of friendship from a heart of pure gold. He was the one that stood up to the bullies in the year above in Year 7, when they picked on a then closeted Tyler. He was the one that everyone adored, yet was still one of the most humble people.

Dan was the one that did whatever he wanted with no care in the world, and Phil was the one that loved him for it.

“How’s that for you, Philly?” Dan snapped Phil out of his thoughts, and held Phil’s hand up to the fairy lights to see his art in motion, Phil’s fingers painted in a dainty, pastel blue nail polish with embedded glitter. It contrasted with Dan’s electric blue polish perfectly, and Dan gasped as he observed the contrast.

“Don’t you just love it?” he asked gleefully, interlocking their fingers to see the contrast in colours more clearly, “I told you that you would!”

Phil tried his hardest to ignore the fact his cheeks were practically on fire, since he was holding Dan’s hand, and managed to croak out a ‘yeah’ despite his mind – and hormones – being in overdrive. Never mind that Dan had given him a nickname, which didn’t help the situation any.

“Right, onto the next one. I can’t wait to be completely matchy-matchy with you!” Dan told Phil as he dabbed the brush into the polish pot and began the second hand.

“It’ll be cute” Phil spoke without realising, and squeezed his eyes shut when his logic caught up with him.

When he inevitably opened his eyes, Dan was already looking back at him, a wide smile on his face. “Just like you” Dan stated, then went back to painting the nails.

Phil could feel himself getting flustered, and he knew it would only be a matter of time before he properly screwed things up. He knew Dan was flirty, he’d even seen flirty Dan in action, plenty of times in fact, but he never expected himself to be the recipient. Being wildly inexperienced with flirting and the world of romance didn’t help Phil’s case, either.

“Um, thank you” Phil’s voice was low, but Dan heard him. He chuckled, his head bobbing ever so slightly as he focused on Phil’s ring finger.

“Anytime” Dan said before sitting back up and swiping the brush effortlessly across Phil’s little finger and looking down at his work. “Feedback?” he prompted, again holding Phil’s hand up to the fairy lights.

“I love it” Phil answered, admiring the way the pastel shade complemented his complexion. Dan raised his own hand beside Phil’s, and sighed.

“We’re not completely matchy-matchy. Something’s missing” Dan pouted, placing a finger from his free hand to his chin.

Phil couldn’t help but laugh.

“Maybe your sanity, considering you keep saying matchy-matchy” he suggested, and Dan rolled his eyes playfully.

“First of all, I’m glad you’ve finally said more than three words to me, but secondly no, that’s not it”

Phil dipped his head slightly in embarrassment, Dan had noticed his lack of conversation skills. His heart-rate began to increase then and there, and he tried to focus his energy solely on his lap and his hands. It was then that he noticed the light reflect from the glitter on his nails.

“Do you think it’s the glitter? That’s missing, I mean? It’s the only real difference beside the shade” as soon as Phil suggested it, Dan burst into a grin and placed a hand on Phil’s shoulder before turning around and digging through the box of nail polishes.

His loose grip on Phil’s shoulder began to shake slightly as he continued to dig around in the box before retrieving a bottle of transparent glitter top-coat polish.

“Do the honours?” Dan asked, sticking out his bottom lip, as if Phil would have said no without it.

“Sure, but, um, it’ll probably get messy” Phil warned, and Dan raised an eyebrow.

“Just the way I like it” he said with a wink, and Phil immediately bowed his head and got to work on Dan’s nails, otherwise Dan would’ve seen the beads of perspiration on his forehead and his all but glowing cheeks.

\--

“I fucking love it!” Dan exclaimed around ten minutes later, admiring his now shimmering nails in the reflection from the fairy lights – the result of Phil’s fifth attempt at painting them well, and Dan’s constant reassurance that whatever Phil did would be perfect. Phil didn’t know how Dan could paint nails so well, it was a skill that he himself just couldn’t master.

“Do you really though? I know that I screwed up on at least three fingers” Phil mumbled, and Dan ruffled Phil’s hair, taking the boy by surprise.

“I love it, okay? It’s perfect, you did great” he assured Phil. “Now let’s go get a drink, it’s on me” he held out a hand as he stood up from his chair.

“It’s a house party, Dan” Phil replied sceptically, and Dan shrugged.

“Exactly why it’s on me” he stated with a side smirk, and wiggled his hand, which was still outstretched. “Come on”

Phil took his hand, and as they moved out of the conservatory and began weaving between couples engaging in steamy makeout sessions and other classmates that were simply passed out and slumped against the wall, Phil used his free hand to pinch his other arm, and upon feeling the sensation, he shook his head in disbelief and let a genuine smile creep on his lips.

But he knew that hand-holding meant nothing to Dan, he held hands with everyone. He kept that thought in his mind as they reached the kitchen, and Dan poured them both a cup of some form of alcohol.

It was then that Phil really took in what Dan was wearing. The moth shirt that Phil had always loved on Dan – because, let’s face it, he stared at him pretty much every day  – over dark-wash skinny jeans, and navy blue pumps. A concoction of colours that Phil doubted anyone else could pull off so well, but Dan was Dan, and Dan could never look anything less than angelic in Phil’s eyes. He also noticed that Dan had dark purple hair chalk covering his brown locks, and his hair itself was floppier and fluffier than usual, which Phil absolutely loved.

“To us” Dan toasted, and Phil nodded along before taking a sip, whilst Dan knocked his drink back in one go.

Phil couldn’t help but feel inferior as he took another sip. But Dan didn’t judge, instead he smiled warmly and poured himself another drink, then took Phil’s hand again and led him out of the kitchen and into the back garden.

Almost immediately, Dan was recognised by practically everyone in the garden, and Phil leaned against the brickwork of the house in silence, sipping on his drink as Dan high-fived, fist-bumped and hugged his way through a horde of people, humbly accepting and reciprocating compliments from every person he encountered.

Phil almost wished that either Louise, Zoe or Joe would come into the garden so he could show Dan that he had friends too. Even though Dan was friends with Phil’s friendship group too, Phil just wanted to show that he could be sociable. Everyone Dan had been rumoured to be dating through the years was relatively high up the social hierarchy, and if Phil was to have any chance – he knew he didn’t, but he at least wanted to befriend Dan – he needed to prove himself worthy.

“Sorry about that,” Dan apologised, cheeks slightly flushed.

“It’s fine” Phil smiled, and Dan shook his head.

“It isn’t. Tonight is about us” he insisted, and Phil’s eyes widened, wondering what the hell Dan meant.

“It is?” he asked for clarification, and Dan nodded, eyeing Phil as if he was crazy.

“Considering we’ve been alone together for over an hour now, I assumed so…”

Phil felt his stomach doing flips as he muttered an ‘oh’, and steadied himself against the brickwork and took a sip from his drink, hiding his wide smile behind the cup as he subtly pinched his leg with his free hand just to check that this was still actually happening. His smile grew when he felt the pinch.

“I have a question” Dan spoke a few seconds later, head tilted and looking towards the night sky. Phil’s breath hitched in his throat as he awaited the question. Dan had Phil wrapped around his little finger, it was just a matter of if Dan recognised it or not.

“How come we’ve known each other for a little over five years but you’ve never said more than two sentences to me in one go until tonight?”

Phil felt his heart sink, and an ache in the pit of his stomach.

 “I-“ Phil’s words got stuck, and he attempted to swallow back the rising lump in his throat.

He felt Dan take his hand again and interlock their fingers, and squeeze his hand lightly.

“I’ve always been scared, I guess” Phil rushed, his mouth staying parted as if he could cram the words back in if Dan didn’t give him the reply he wanted. He’d embarrassed himself enough already, he may as well not stop there.

“Of me?” Dan asked. The motion-sensor floodlight above them highlighted Dan’s slightly hurt expression, and the aching in Phil’s stomach only worsened.

“No. Yes. Kind of? I don’t know” Phil went through every response in the space of two seconds, and let himself slide down the side of the house until he hit the patio decking, consequently breaking free of Dan’s grip on his hand.

“Scared of your rejection of me” Phil clarified once he hit the floor, and pressed his head into his knees, which were pulled to his chest.

Phil was well aware that everyone in the garden could see them, they were directly underneath a bright floodlight, after all. Everyone probably thought Phil was causing a scene, and he expected Dan to run away, he didn’t expect anyone to attempt to comfort him.

He was about to reach for his phone to text Louise and ask if she and the Suggs were ready to leave, but a hand was cupped over his own before he could reach his pocket.

“Phil, look at me” Dan requested softly, no hint of amusement or joking in his tone.

Phil could hear distant mumbling from, he presumed, everyone else in the garden, and it made tears prick the back of his eyes. Phil was shy for a reason, the main one being he didn’t like being the centre of attention, he didn’t like being stared at and watched. When he heard a laugh somewhere in the distance, that was the last straw, and he felt a few tears fall from his eyes, only to be caught by the fabric of his jeans less than a second later.

“Phil, please” Dan requested again, drawing small circles onto Phil’s hand with the pad of his thumb.

Did Phil really have anything to lose? It was obvious he was crying, and he knew there were enough people in the garden for the news to be spread around the rest of the party in a matter of minutes. Whatever credibility he had was already effectively wrecked. Nobody cries at house parties.

So he slowly lifted his head from his knees, to be met with Dan’s bright-eyed gaze and warm smile. He attempted to look over Dan’s shoulder to see the damage he’d brought upon his reputation and see how many people were staring and probably laughing at him, but Dan shook his head and placed a hand on Phil’s cheek, turning his head back to face him.

“Just keep your focus on me, not them. Okay?” Dan spoke clearly and supportively, and Phil felt instantaneously less insecure. Dan had such a calming air about him, it was impossible not to be at ease in his presence.

“Feeling better? Calmer?” Dan asked, still tracing wide circles onto Phil’s hand. It was ridiculous, Phil thought, how quickly Dan could go from loud, boisterous and flirty to calm and soothing, supportive.

Despite Phil’s erratic breathing pattern, he did feel better, significantly more so by the fact that Dan had stayed and not ran away when he obviously realised that Phil had confessed his crush.

“I think so” Phil answered, rubbing his eyes with his hand.

“Good” Dan replied, and sat down firmly on the decking opposite Phil, presumably so he wouldn’t feel as out of place.

“Are you dating anyone?” Phil heard himself ask, almost as if his subconscious, the burning question in the back of his mind, took control without realisation.

Dan looked slightly taken aback by the question for a few seconds, then raised an eyebrow.

“Do you want me to be dating anyone?”

Phil felt his cheeks burn up once again, and he felt physically incapable of speaking. Instead he slowly shook his head, and Dan giggled opposite him.

“Then it’s your lucky day. Been agonisingly single for eighteen long years” Dan revealed with an overdramatic sigh, and it made Phil chuckle.

They were so close that their knees were brushing, and being so close to Dan was a feeling that Phil never wanted to be without. It felt comfortable. Even if they were sat on cold, outside patio decking.

“So you were scared of my rejection of you, huh?” Dan broke the silence again, and Phil placed a hand over his face in mortification. But Dan pulled it away and wrapped Phil’s hand in his own.

“Can you blame me?” Phil mumbled, not daring to make eye contact.

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this,” Dan stated with a laugh, “I’ve literally been dying to tell you how I felt for what, five years now? But you always made an excuse to run away from me. Tyler and Caspar joked that you were going to take out a restraining order against me considering I was always watching you from afar, wanting to tell you. You’re telling me you never noticed me?” Dan recalled with a fond smile, playing with Phil’s fingers as he spoke.

“So… like stalking?” Phil asked with a smirk, and colour rushed to Dan’s cheeks as he rolled his eyes playfully.

“I wouldn’t say stalking,” Dan defended, getting rapidly more flustered. Another side of Dan that Phil had never seen before. “It’s more just… strategic planning and timings” Phil cracked a smile at realising how similar Dan’s response was to Zoe’s, when she commented on the matter just a few days before.

“I mean, I even sent Tyler to look for you tonight so I knew where to find you to try and tell you again” Dan revealed, and Phil felt his heart begin to pound, near enough thumping against his ribcage in anticipation.

“Well I’m here now, and so are you…” Phil trailed off, trying his best at leading the conversation for once. Dan continued to play with Phil’s fingers, not making eye contact.

“I sort of may have had a huge crush on you for five years… there I said it” Dan rushed his words, and for once seemed the epitome of vulnerable.

Phil felt his eyes burn with the promise of tears, happy tears, but he blinked them away before they could arrive, and instead squeezed Dan’s hand. He didn’t know what to say, because what could he say?

Physically, he couldn’t say anything, his throat had closed up at the worst possible time, and Dan had seemingly become a shell of himself.

“This would be the time that I’d kiss you to show I felt the same but I, um, I don’t really know how to do that” Phil knew how pathetic he sounded, he knew that he should just go for it and try his best, it’s not like it would be Dan’s first kiss too.

“Oh really?” Dan’s head shot up, and he had gained some of his flirty, confident attitude back. Phil was relieved. “Allow me to teach you?”

“I’m not a quick learner…” Phil excused himself ahead of time, but Dan simply smiled.

“And I have all the time in the world for you, plenty of time to practise” he shrugged, and it made Phil smile too. There were so many levels to Dan, so many more than Phil initially thought, and it made his breath hitch when he realised that maybe he would get to experience them all.

“O-Okay” Phil replied with a decisive nod, and Dan moved his hand to caress Phil’s cheek, and Phil felt himself move into Dan’s touch.

“Just let me do all the work” Dan instructed, and Phil nodded again before Dan leaned in all the way and pressed their lips together.

Despite Phil not having the first clue of what to do, he knew that he liked it. The kiss was feather-light, testing, but as soon as Phil tried his best to reciprocate what Dan was doing, the other boy smiled against Phil’s lips and deepened the kiss, and that’s when Phil decided to again copy what Dan was doing.

When they pulled apart, Dan looked at him with wide eyes.

“Not a quick learner, my ass” he mocked Phil’s earlier statement, and Phil bit his lip to supress his grin. He felt overwhelmingly happy, from his first kiss, never mind his first kiss being with his crush of five years, and from the anticipation of what was going to happen next.

What _did_ happen next, however, was something none of them expected. From either the adrenaline or the impossibility to resist the urge, Phil placed his hands around the collar of Dan’s shirt and pulled him closer, initiating the next kiss. It took Dan by surprise, it took him a second or two to process the situation, but he soon smiled into the kiss again and wrapped his arms around Phil’s neck.

This kiss was longer, with more emotion and passion than the last one, and it left Phil feeling slightly light-headed in the best possible way.

“Are you sure you’ve never done this before? Fucking hell” Dan asked, licking his lips.

Phil shook his head. “Never. You can’t say the same, though” he replied.

“Ah yes, the whole ‘let’s kiss my friend when I know my crush is looking in an attempt to make him jealous thus make him talk to me for more than three seconds’ experiment. Safe to say that failed, didn’t it” Dan explained, and Phil shrugged.

“It did make me extremely jealous. Plus everyone you’ve ever dated, made me feel even worse”

“Whoa, what? Everyone I’ve dated? Who have I supposedly dated?” Dan asked in rapidfire, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

Phil bit his lip again.

“Well you dated Bethany for a while in year 10, didn’t you? And Matthew for a few months last year?” Phil questioned, and Dan shook his head rapidly.

“Phil, I’ve literally never dated anyone. Ever. I’ve been hugely crushing on you for five years so why would I even…”

He had a point, Phil thought. Though it was still surreal to hear Dan say those words. Phil would be lying if he said he hadn’t dreamt about it.

“You can ask Bethany and Matthew, they’ll tell you the same thing. People just like to pin crazy rumours on me, always have done. No idea why” Dan shrugged. “But you know, if a certain rumour were to go around now, I wouldn’t be so hasty to dispel it”

“What rumour would that be?” Phil asked out of curiosity.

Dan raised an eyebrow and waited for Phil to click on, and giggled when realisation washed over the boy in front of him.

“Oh” was all Phil could manage, and he was sure he was now at least fifty shades brighter than a tomato.

“Now as much as I’d like to continue discussing where we stand with each other out here on this mossy, damp decking, I don’t like the fact that the slugs on the banisters and spiders on the walls can overhear us” Dan said, pointing to various places where slugs and spiders seemed to be getting closer to them. Though Phil’s phobia and paranoia probably didn’t help.

“Come on, Mr great kisser, off we go” Dan held out his hand as he got to his feet.

“Please don’t call me that again” Phil requested as he took Dan’s hand and got to his own feet.

“I can’t promise that when you keep proving the name to be true” Dan informed him, and Phil laughed.

“Then no more kisses” Phil felt in control of the conversation and more confident because it was just so easy with Dan, and he heard Dan sigh beside him and squeeze his hand.

“Fine. No more nicknames,” Dan surrendered, “already got me wrapped around your little finger” he tutted.

“Tell me about it” Phil muttered to himself as they stepped back inside the house.

\--

“There you are! I’ve been looking for you everywhere” Louise’s cheerful bellow echoed throughout the corridor as she ran up to Dan and Phil, Zoe and Alfie following behind her.

“What’s this here, then?” Zoe asked with a smile, gesturing to the position the boys were in.

Dan had his head nuzzled into Phil’s neck, and their interlocked hands laid on Phil’s lap. Dan was gently brushing Phil’s hand with his thumb. Both were smiling widely, their lips thoroughly chapped and raw.

“A little something” Louise answered on the boys’ behalf, sending a wink in Phil’s direction.

Dan placed a gentle kiss to Phil’s neck, causing Phil to blush, and Zoe aww’d, and snuggled into Alfie.

“This makes me a little too happy” she stated, and Alfie laughed.

“Listen, we’re about to head off once we find Joe. Are you coming, or?” Louise asked, her voice trailing off suggestively.

Dan tightened an arm around Phil’s waist as a silent plea not to go.

“I think I’ll stick around a little while longer” Phil informed the group, and they all nodded and aww’d once again before turning and heading back down the corridor in pursuit of Joe.

But not before Louise came dashing back down the corridor towards Dan and Phil, and began rifling through her bag. Eventually, she retrieved a chapstick, and tossed it into Phil’s lap.

“You’re welcome” she told him with a wink before running back towards Zoe and Alfie who had now entered the emptying living room.

“You’re nice to cuddle with” Dan spoke quietly, and he snuggled in closer to Phil.

“Well, I have to be good at something” Phil replied softly, and Dan groaned.

“I don’t want to have to give you another nickname of something else you’re good at, it’s tiring to be this creative”

“Don’t label me as anything, I don’t need nicknaming” Phil retorted sassily, and he heard Dan’s quiet laugh.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, love. Labels aren’t really my thing”

\--

And those words stuck, for both of them.

Not even the following week at school, when people saw the adoring looks they shot each other in class, the sweet kisses as they passed in the corridor, not when people outright asked if they were boyfriends, a couple.

They would both shrug and giggle to themselves, an inside joke that nobody else would understand.

They were Dan and Phil, and that’s how they were seen, power couple by reputation but not by declaration.

“Why won’t you just admit you’re together already?” Caspar asked them one day, and nodded to their interlocked hands which rested between them on the cafeteria table, “It’s already obvious”

“Then we have no need to admit anything” Dan shrugged in response, and Caspar rolled his eyes.

Dan then turned to Phil to press a sweet kiss to his lips, and Phil knew what it meant. He knew what all their kisses meant, what all the stares meant.

The kiss they shared that night was daring, new, overdue. Silent confirmation, quiet reciprocation.  _I love you._


End file.
